Spasms force Tiger Woods to back out of news conference

Woods withdrew from the Dubai Open on Feb. 3 due to back spasms, and they also caused him to pull out of this week’s Genesis Open. A question-and-answer session with the media scheduled for Tuesday was delayed for 24 hours, and then was canceled altogether, ESPN reported. His agent, Mark Steinberg, said late Tuesday the 14-time major champion was skipping the news conference for “precautionary reasons.”

“After receiving daily treatment the last several days on his ongoing back spasms, Tiger Woods has again been advised by doctors to limit all activities and will not hold a press conference Wednesday,’’ Greg Bell, a member of the tournament’s PR team, said in a statement.

Woods, 41, withdrew from the event on Friday. The tournament is being run by the Tiger Woods Foundation. Woods traveled to California over the weekend, Steinberg said, in an effort to take part in foundation and tournament activities.

Woods has had back surgery three times. He returned to the PGA Tour in January after an 18-month layoff and shot rounds of 76-72 to miss the cut at the Farmer Insurance Open at Torrey Pines for the first time in his career at that course. He withdrew from the Dubai tournament, an event he has won twice, after posting an opening-round 77.

“He has to come out and play and play tournament golf,’’ Day said Tuesday. “But you have to watch also your back and make sure that's healthy, because you have to play golf to get tournament ready and get the competitive rounds under your belt and get those juices flowing again. But also, in the same regard, (what) you have to be wary of is (whether) your back (is) 100 percent.’’

Woods, who has won 79 PGA Tour events, began having back woes toward the end of the 2013 season, when he won five tournaments. He had his first back surgery in March 2014 and returned three months later. He played in five tournaments in 2014 and 11 times in 2015 before being shut down by surgeries in September and October of that year.

"He is just having a hard time getting these spasms to calm down,'' Steinberg told ESPN.”And he's working on that on an hourly basis. He's got personnel working with him to help pacify that."

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